In the wake of the second world war, Japan took the world by surprise, emerging from the ashes with rapid development and economic growth, and rising to the world’s second-largest economy by the end of the 1960s. However, in 1990 the massive bubble economy that had been growing since the late 1980s finally burst, ushering in years of recession and economic stagnation, commonly referred to as the ‘lost decade.’ What does this mini economic lesson have to do with the history of San-X?!? Well, surprisingly, this part of Japanese history had a huge impact on the evolution of kawaii! Learn all about how the social impact of the lost decade ushered in a whole new world of kawaii and how San-X rose to meet this new demand!